A sad day for us all today, as we had decided to have Archie and Timone put down. Logistically, we normally do this (if planned) on a Friday morning, as the yard is shut so it's nice and peaceful, and Sally is free to assist the vet with it, as it can be a difficult thing for the staff to deal with.
We had always planned to put Timone down in the Spring - he was never going to make a fully sound recovery to work from his athritis, and the treatment we gave him over the winter was to ensure he was comfortable and could have a few months retirement and time out at grass. The weather was so good this week, that we took advantage and gave him a few days out at grass with no rug on with Ben and Fuzby. He had a whale of a time, galloping about, bucking and generally enjoying himself, so we knew the time was right to put him to sleep this week, rather than delay it and risk him becoming lamer and uncomfortable again.
Archie had reached the grand old age of 35 years. Whilst most of you know him now as the old retired pony who we use as a companion, he was one of the best riding school ponies we had, and taught hundreds of kids to ride. He used to make us all laugh with his ability to poo (and stop for it) every 2 minutes, his timing of having a pee every time it was his turn to canter, and his dislike for coloured ponies, leading to him chasing poor Gemima round in lessons! Archie has had a great 4 years retired, but had grown a sarcoid (a cancerous wart) between his front legs. It had become bigger over the winter, and we didn't think it was fair to give him treatment for it that is often quite painful, so we felt the best thing to do was to put him to sleep before his health started to fail. He always behaved like a mini-stallion, so he'd have hated having to slow down if he had gotten stiffer and older.
On a brighter note, Aria is returning today from being backed and has already been ridden twice by Hannah who describes her as "strong and forward" - like mother, like daughter then! Belinda always liked to go forward!
Sally is also away to a horse sale in Ireland on Monday/Tues/Wed in search of a couple of jumping horses and perhaps a cob, so fingers crossed there are some suitable ponies over there! We'll keep you updated.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Monday, 23 January 2012
Vet has been again!
Poor little Murphy is broken - he came in lame on Tuesday and we had the vet to look at him on Friday, who booked for him to be x-rayed today (Monday). He was slightly lame on his right hind, which got worse when the vet flexed his fetlock area. X-rays showed that Murphy has a small fracture to one of his sesamoid bones (small round bones at back of fetlock) and our vet is going to refer the x-rays to another vet to find out the best treatment. There is a small chip of bone in the joint area, which may need to be removed, but we are hoping that with lengthy rest, Murphy will recover - we'll be keeping our fingers crossed until we hear back from the other vet though! We have no idea how Murphy did this - he has no cuts or anything on him, and very rarely moves at any speed in the field! But fingers crossed, and wishing him a speedy recovery. Apache was also lame, but it looks as though he just kicked himself in a lesson and he is much better today with the swelling down.
Murphy does seem to be enjoying his box rest though - he can't believe his luck that all he has to do is stand there, and everyone brings him his food and water and picks up his poo!
Murphy does seem to be enjoying his box rest though - he can't believe his luck that all he has to do is stand there, and everyone brings him his food and water and picks up his poo!
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Murphy is lame!
Murphy has gone lame! This is a phenomena! Murphy has never been lame in all the time we have had him - he has steel legs! We are hoping he just has a foot abcess so he is in with a little pink stable rug on (much to his disgust) and a poultice, which will hopefully make him feel better - poor old Murphy, although he will be enjoying the stable and hay!
The other horses are fitter now, after another weeks work so they have started doing some jumping. We are keeping the jumping quite simple with them this week so that they keep getting fitter slowly, but they are all enjoying themselves!
Just a little reminder as well for any riders who want to use their discount vouchers that they got in their Christmas presents - the block booking ones in particular have an expiry date on them, so make sure that you get them used in time!
Thanks
The other horses are fitter now, after another weeks work so they have started doing some jumping. We are keeping the jumping quite simple with them this week so that they keep getting fitter slowly, but they are all enjoying themselves!
Just a little reminder as well for any riders who want to use their discount vouchers that they got in their Christmas presents - the block booking ones in particular have an expiry date on them, so make sure that you get them used in time!
Thanks
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Happy New Year!
A Happy New Year to all our blog followers! We are all back at work now after a nice relaxing Xmas and New Year both for the staff and the horses and ponies. As you probably know, we close for four days each week over Xmas and New Year, so the horses and ponies all have a nice rest in the field with plenty of haylage, and we go onto skeleton staff numbers each day, so that the staff can have some extra time off.
Firstly, we hope everyone enjoyed the panto - it was really good fun, and everyone seemed to have a great night that came along to it. The videos worked well and all the horses behaved (apart from Murphy, who behaved like a stallion for the evening)! So a big thank you to all our staff for putting in the extra work getting ready for the panto and rehearsing.
The cough that was going round a few of the school horses appears to have cleared up now, so they're all much happier, but a little unfit after their time off over the festivities, so we're going to be doing flatwork only in the lessons this week to give them a chance to pick up a bit of fitness before they start jumping again. Abbey took the longest to get over her cough, and ended up having around 6 weeks off in total, so she is slowly puffing her way back into work with a bit of a belly to lose!
Reggie is doing well and is sound, apart from constantly pulling off his fancy sports shoes - the poor farrier has had to reattach one each week since he had them fitted - its not even when he's working, he pulls them off when we put him back in his stable and he turns round, so perhaps he needs to be a bit more organised with his feet!
Timone is pretty sound now, so we have gone back to open heeled shoes with him to see if he can get a couple of hours turnout each day (he can't be turned out in his round shoes) so we're keeping our fingers crossed that he can go on and have a bit of fun in the field now.
Aria is (fingers crossed she loads and travels well) meant to be going away to start her backing this week, so we'll report back with some pictures and things of how she's getting on once she is away and settled at Alisons.
We are having some staff changes at the end of January as well - Danny has finished his time training with us so will be moving on, and as Nic is his partner, she has decided to go too. We are interviewing next week for a new instructor and training student, and hopefully we'll find someone who fits in well with our team and enjoys teaching. We've had quite a few applicants, so its just a case of trying to find the right one.
Thats all for now!
Firstly, we hope everyone enjoyed the panto - it was really good fun, and everyone seemed to have a great night that came along to it. The videos worked well and all the horses behaved (apart from Murphy, who behaved like a stallion for the evening)! So a big thank you to all our staff for putting in the extra work getting ready for the panto and rehearsing.
The cough that was going round a few of the school horses appears to have cleared up now, so they're all much happier, but a little unfit after their time off over the festivities, so we're going to be doing flatwork only in the lessons this week to give them a chance to pick up a bit of fitness before they start jumping again. Abbey took the longest to get over her cough, and ended up having around 6 weeks off in total, so she is slowly puffing her way back into work with a bit of a belly to lose!
Reggie is doing well and is sound, apart from constantly pulling off his fancy sports shoes - the poor farrier has had to reattach one each week since he had them fitted - its not even when he's working, he pulls them off when we put him back in his stable and he turns round, so perhaps he needs to be a bit more organised with his feet!
Timone is pretty sound now, so we have gone back to open heeled shoes with him to see if he can get a couple of hours turnout each day (he can't be turned out in his round shoes) so we're keeping our fingers crossed that he can go on and have a bit of fun in the field now.
Aria is (fingers crossed she loads and travels well) meant to be going away to start her backing this week, so we'll report back with some pictures and things of how she's getting on once she is away and settled at Alisons.
We are having some staff changes at the end of January as well - Danny has finished his time training with us so will be moving on, and as Nic is his partner, she has decided to go too. We are interviewing next week for a new instructor and training student, and hopefully we'll find someone who fits in well with our team and enjoys teaching. We've had quite a few applicants, so its just a case of trying to find the right one.
Thats all for now!
Friday, 16 December 2011
Update on the sick, lame and lazy
Hi Everyone,
Thought it was time to update everyone on the horse health front, as we've certainly had our fair share of problems this year!
Timone has now had his final treatment (around 4 weeks ago) so it has been a long road of box rest, walking out in hand and turning him out in the school. He is wearing round shoes now, and he is not great at keeping shoes on in the field in the winter, so we decided he would have to come and live in to give him the best chance of keeping his shoes on. Timone doesn't mind this at all, as he loves being in with all the attention.
He is now being lunged - meant to be quietly, but he has his moments where he takes off bucking and he is far sounder than he was before treatment. Unfortunately, he is still not completely sound and although he is happy being ridden in walk and lunged, he is still unlevel on his right fore, so unable to do any more work at this point. We're hoping that he will come fully sound eventually, but at least we're at a stage where he's comfy, happy and enjoying himself rather than feeling sore. We don't have any concerns with him continuing like this into the New Year, till we see if he comes fully sound, so you need to keep your fingers crossed for him!
Onto Reggie - who developed a worrying looking crack on his left hind foot and then went lame in the field. We decided to x-ray his back feet to see what was causing the crack, and to see how his foot balance looked as Reggie has always suffered from having dreadful feet - they are small, flat and in poor condition, so it is always a battle for our poor farrier to get shoes on and keep him sound, as well as keep his feet looking good. The x-rays showed that Reggie had poor foot balance, with his pedal bone basically veering off to one side, which was the underlying cause of the crack. Luckily, the x-ray showed no pedal fracture, which we were concerned about and showed that if we could get his foot balance improved, the crack would hopefully go away.
The vet and farrier discussed Reggies shoeing, as he is more problematic than a horse with good foot condition, as he is unable to take wearing heavier metal shoes (such as heart bars). They decided that the best type of shoe for Reggie would be an imprint sports shoe (there are photos of them coming soon on our facebook page), which are made of moulded plastic and basically glue onto the foot. This gives the foot slightly more mobility, meaning that the painful crack can move rather than being fixed in place. After 2 days - what a result! Reggie is now sound and ready to work, although he has had a slight problem when he pulled the plastic shoe off his good foot in his stable! He must know they are very expensive.......
Holly and Abbey are suffering from a bit of a cough this week, we were a bit paranoid and called the vet right away when Holly started coughing, as Chloe had a cough a week before we lost her, but the vet seems confident that it is just a bug that is going round them. They are obviously off work, and on a broncho dilator drug, and Holly has improved already. We often get bugs like this going round the yard every couple of years, so it just needs kept an eye on - Holly and Abbey appear to be enjoying their extra time off!
Speaking of Chloe, some of you may be aware that we requested a post mortem be done on her because we lost her so suddenly with such strange symptoms. Normally, we don't do a post mortem as the cause is obvious and the vet has been involved since the beginning, however with Chloe, we wanted to absolutely rule out that it wasn't something the other horses could catch or suffer from.
Chloes bloods showed that she was having a huge immuno response to something, and more telling, she had blood in her spinal fluid, meaning that she was haemoraging bleeding into her brain, hence why she started fitting suddenly. We also sent her lung and liver tissue away for analysis, which showed that she hadn't been exposed to any toxins, but that she had been bleeding into all her major organs. Although we won't ever have a complete answer, it would appear that Chloe had some kind of very odd response to something which led to her developing a clotting problem, or that she had a large tumour in her lung or close, which basically ruptured.
Whilst it is not an exact answer, it puts our mind at rest that there is nothing more we could have done for Chloe, and that euthanasing her was the right decision in hindsight.
Hopefully our next blog will have less horse health issues!
Thought it was time to update everyone on the horse health front, as we've certainly had our fair share of problems this year!
Timone has now had his final treatment (around 4 weeks ago) so it has been a long road of box rest, walking out in hand and turning him out in the school. He is wearing round shoes now, and he is not great at keeping shoes on in the field in the winter, so we decided he would have to come and live in to give him the best chance of keeping his shoes on. Timone doesn't mind this at all, as he loves being in with all the attention.
He is now being lunged - meant to be quietly, but he has his moments where he takes off bucking and he is far sounder than he was before treatment. Unfortunately, he is still not completely sound and although he is happy being ridden in walk and lunged, he is still unlevel on his right fore, so unable to do any more work at this point. We're hoping that he will come fully sound eventually, but at least we're at a stage where he's comfy, happy and enjoying himself rather than feeling sore. We don't have any concerns with him continuing like this into the New Year, till we see if he comes fully sound, so you need to keep your fingers crossed for him!
Onto Reggie - who developed a worrying looking crack on his left hind foot and then went lame in the field. We decided to x-ray his back feet to see what was causing the crack, and to see how his foot balance looked as Reggie has always suffered from having dreadful feet - they are small, flat and in poor condition, so it is always a battle for our poor farrier to get shoes on and keep him sound, as well as keep his feet looking good. The x-rays showed that Reggie had poor foot balance, with his pedal bone basically veering off to one side, which was the underlying cause of the crack. Luckily, the x-ray showed no pedal fracture, which we were concerned about and showed that if we could get his foot balance improved, the crack would hopefully go away.
The vet and farrier discussed Reggies shoeing, as he is more problematic than a horse with good foot condition, as he is unable to take wearing heavier metal shoes (such as heart bars). They decided that the best type of shoe for Reggie would be an imprint sports shoe (there are photos of them coming soon on our facebook page), which are made of moulded plastic and basically glue onto the foot. This gives the foot slightly more mobility, meaning that the painful crack can move rather than being fixed in place. After 2 days - what a result! Reggie is now sound and ready to work, although he has had a slight problem when he pulled the plastic shoe off his good foot in his stable! He must know they are very expensive.......
Holly and Abbey are suffering from a bit of a cough this week, we were a bit paranoid and called the vet right away when Holly started coughing, as Chloe had a cough a week before we lost her, but the vet seems confident that it is just a bug that is going round them. They are obviously off work, and on a broncho dilator drug, and Holly has improved already. We often get bugs like this going round the yard every couple of years, so it just needs kept an eye on - Holly and Abbey appear to be enjoying their extra time off!
Speaking of Chloe, some of you may be aware that we requested a post mortem be done on her because we lost her so suddenly with such strange symptoms. Normally, we don't do a post mortem as the cause is obvious and the vet has been involved since the beginning, however with Chloe, we wanted to absolutely rule out that it wasn't something the other horses could catch or suffer from.
Chloes bloods showed that she was having a huge immuno response to something, and more telling, she had blood in her spinal fluid, meaning that she was haemoraging bleeding into her brain, hence why she started fitting suddenly. We also sent her lung and liver tissue away for analysis, which showed that she hadn't been exposed to any toxins, but that she had been bleeding into all her major organs. Although we won't ever have a complete answer, it would appear that Chloe had some kind of very odd response to something which led to her developing a clotting problem, or that she had a large tumour in her lung or close, which basically ruptured.
Whilst it is not an exact answer, it puts our mind at rest that there is nothing more we could have done for Chloe, and that euthanasing her was the right decision in hindsight.
Hopefully our next blog will have less horse health issues!
Friday, 9 December 2011
Crazy Weather!
Well, luckily we're all still here after the crazy gales that hit Aberdeen yesterday afternoon and evening. Obviously we had to cancel lessons, as we wanted to get all the staff home early and safely, but the horses are also much happier out in the field as they can work out what the noise is with the wind if they are outside - it is much scarier for them in the stable!
The evening managed to pass without incident, other than a slight panic when we thought the roof was blowing off the caravan...... We also lost the exhaust pipe off the tractor and one of the hay rings blew away, but thats pretty good considering how windy it was, and how much damage has been done elsewhere.
The horses had a nice couple of days off as we also had to cancel lessons on Wednesday because the yard was so icy - we couldn't get them in or out from the field, so they stayed cosy in their rugs munching at the hay bale.
We were going to moan about the weather, but then realised that this time last year, we were a foot deep in snow, and had already cancelled tonnes of lessons, so we're getting off lightly this year compared to last year.
The evening managed to pass without incident, other than a slight panic when we thought the roof was blowing off the caravan...... We also lost the exhaust pipe off the tractor and one of the hay rings blew away, but thats pretty good considering how windy it was, and how much damage has been done elsewhere.
The horses had a nice couple of days off as we also had to cancel lessons on Wednesday because the yard was so icy - we couldn't get them in or out from the field, so they stayed cosy in their rugs munching at the hay bale.
We were going to moan about the weather, but then realised that this time last year, we were a foot deep in snow, and had already cancelled tonnes of lessons, so we're getting off lightly this year compared to last year.
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Sad Days, and Xmas excitement
Hi Everyone,
A sad blog today I'm afraid - some of you may be aware that we had to have Chloe put to sleep last Monday - which was a real shock, and very difficult for our staff to deal with.
Chloe had a slight cough a week previously, which was treated with anti-biotics, and when the vet examined her she had some fluid on her lungs. She responded well to the anti-biotics and by last Monday was allowed out in the field for a few hours. She had a lovely day out with Aria, and was in really good health, galloping about the field. She came in around 5p.m. and appeared to have some type of seizure in her stable around twenty minutes later. We called the vet as an emergency, who sedated and thoroughly examined Chloe, but she had such a range of odd symptoms, she was very difficult to diagnose. Whilst the vet was there, her seizures became more regular, with less time in between and she was becoming extremely distressed.
We took the sad decision to put Chloe down - a horse having seizures is obviously extremely dangerous for both the vet and the staff to deal with, and there was no way of controlling it or helping Chloe. We decided that we would carry out a post mortem on Chloe, to ensure that whatever had gone wrong with her was not a danger to any other horses.
Chloes blood results showed that she had a big immunoresponse to something, so had some type of virus, and also that she was bleeding into her brain, which was the reason for the seizures. Luckily, it happened in her stable rather than when she was loose in the field, which could obviously have had catastrophic results. We're just glad that Chloe was with our staff, who all adore her at the end, and that we were able to soothe her and make sure her last couple of hours were as peaceful as possible. It would appear that Chloe was just very unlucky and had an odd response to her cough/virus, which then flared up when she finished her anti-biotics. Chloe was with us for over five years, and was one of the sweetest, nicest horses we have ever had the pleasure of owning. She taught our staff a phenomenal amount towards their Stage exams, and was always very popular for jumping lessons - so RIP Chloe, we hope you're up there with Pumba galloping about the fields and having fun.
On a happier note, we have decided to do a game show/panto this year. "The Equine X Factor" is on Thursday 22nd December at 7.30p.m and involves all the staff and many of the members basically making a fool of themselves! So, if you want to come along and laugh at us all, then make sure you get your tickets soon as we can only sell limited numbers due to the limited space in the school. Tickets cost £5 for children, £7 for adults and £12 for families (up to 2 adults and 3 children).
Hope to see you all there!
A sad blog today I'm afraid - some of you may be aware that we had to have Chloe put to sleep last Monday - which was a real shock, and very difficult for our staff to deal with.
Chloe had a slight cough a week previously, which was treated with anti-biotics, and when the vet examined her she had some fluid on her lungs. She responded well to the anti-biotics and by last Monday was allowed out in the field for a few hours. She had a lovely day out with Aria, and was in really good health, galloping about the field. She came in around 5p.m. and appeared to have some type of seizure in her stable around twenty minutes later. We called the vet as an emergency, who sedated and thoroughly examined Chloe, but she had such a range of odd symptoms, she was very difficult to diagnose. Whilst the vet was there, her seizures became more regular, with less time in between and she was becoming extremely distressed.
We took the sad decision to put Chloe down - a horse having seizures is obviously extremely dangerous for both the vet and the staff to deal with, and there was no way of controlling it or helping Chloe. We decided that we would carry out a post mortem on Chloe, to ensure that whatever had gone wrong with her was not a danger to any other horses.
Chloes blood results showed that she had a big immunoresponse to something, so had some type of virus, and also that she was bleeding into her brain, which was the reason for the seizures. Luckily, it happened in her stable rather than when she was loose in the field, which could obviously have had catastrophic results. We're just glad that Chloe was with our staff, who all adore her at the end, and that we were able to soothe her and make sure her last couple of hours were as peaceful as possible. It would appear that Chloe was just very unlucky and had an odd response to her cough/virus, which then flared up when she finished her anti-biotics. Chloe was with us for over five years, and was one of the sweetest, nicest horses we have ever had the pleasure of owning. She taught our staff a phenomenal amount towards their Stage exams, and was always very popular for jumping lessons - so RIP Chloe, we hope you're up there with Pumba galloping about the fields and having fun.
On a happier note, we have decided to do a game show/panto this year. "The Equine X Factor" is on Thursday 22nd December at 7.30p.m and involves all the staff and many of the members basically making a fool of themselves! So, if you want to come along and laugh at us all, then make sure you get your tickets soon as we can only sell limited numbers due to the limited space in the school. Tickets cost £5 for children, £7 for adults and £12 for families (up to 2 adults and 3 children).
Hope to see you all there!
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